Leather armor was strapped to his body. The vital spots were forged from special magical metals, imbued with magical defenses. On his back, he carried a sleek, straight metal staff, topped with a pale blue magic stone.

  This staff was his most expensive piece of gear, and also the most expensive in the Ribi Guild's arsenal.

  The staff itself was pretty average in performance; it didn't even have the most basic staff functions like reducing incantation time or conducting mana. It just amplified magic effects and was incredibly durable. Made from some of the hardest metals in the world, it had caught Eric's eye instantly.

  "Be careful, don't push yourself," Tadela warned.

  "Sure thing," Eric replied.

  Eric was never one to push himself. He always put his own life first. Without hesitation, he plunged into the dungeon.

  A long, downward passage lay before him. The ends of the passage glowed with a dim blue light, giving it an especially dreamy feel. He glanced over the stone walls, took the staff off his back, and continued on his way. The first dungeon run officially began.

  After the long passage, he entered the first level of the dungeon. It looked like a huge cave, with other adventurers walking around, trading and selling items.

  There were hardly any monsters in sight. After all, this level was filled with Level 1 monsters, all of which had been cleared out by adventurers. He didn't even need to take out a map; there were directional signs posted on the walls.

  Following the signs, he easily made his way through the first level, encountering only a few murky Level 1 slimes, each giving him 1 experience point.

  There were countless connections between the first and second levels. Eric casually found a cliff wall and jumped down into the second level. He then took out his map, found a hidden river, and followed it directly to the eighth level underground.

  Levels one to ten were all connected, but there was a unique passage that had to be taken between levels ten and eleven.

  Eric had thought he'd need to defeat a boss to get in, but that wasn't the case. After level thirty, you'd need to defeat a dungeon boss to advance, but before that, there were no bosses—just special variants wandering around.

  Special variants were unique forms of regular monsters, much stronger than the average ones. They were rare to encounter. As for their appearance, they had horns.

  In the dungeon, horns were like a crown; regular monsters didn't grow horns, only special variants and bosses did.

  Eric climbed out of the hidden river and was now on the eighth level. He waved his staff and cast a fire spell to dry his clothes.

  "Huh, huh, huh!"

  A green-skinned dwarf charged at Eric. Big nose, long ears—it was a goblin.

  [Species] Goblin

  [Level] Lv8

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  [Class] None

  [Description] A common monster with a certain degree of strength. Don't underestimate it just because it looks unremarkable.

  "Perfect, just what I need to warm up," Eric muttered.

  He gripped his staff and activated [Giant Strength], swinging it down hard on the goblin's head. The skull shattered instantly, and the creature flew backward, smashing into the stone wall, bouncing off, and landing on the ground, twitching a couple of times before going still.

  [Ding, Goblin Lv8 defeated, +20 experience]

  "What a useful staff!" Eric swung it around a couple of times, loving the sound it made as it whooshed through the air. He felt like he could use this staff for a long time without needing to replace it.

  He stepped over the goblin's body and continued deeper into the maze. He was here to level up. Soon, he encountered a second goblin. He quickly walked up and knocked it down with a punch.

  "Huh, huh, huh!"

  The goblin struggled frantically, but Eric didn't care. He stomped on the goblin's neck and raised his staff.

  Whack!

  The arm bone shattered. Then, he lifted his foot and let the goblin go, activating [Stealth] to quietly follow it. He wanted to follow the trail and eliminate the source. If he could take out a whole nest of goblins, that would be a great deed, a truly righteous act.

  The goblin navigated the maze, turning left and right. But Eric soon realized something was off. The goblin seemed to be leading him in circles. By the time he figured it out, he saw clusters of green light emerging from the dark depths. He had been ambushed by the goblins.

  He had underestimated them. Eric sighed and reflected on his mistake. Ponde and Luciana had underestimated him, which led to their mistakes and allowed him to escape. And here he was, making the same mistake by underestimating the goblins' cunning.

  "Huh, huh, huh!"

  The goblin in front stopped and let out a strange cackle. Then, more goblins charged out of the darkness.

  Eric tightened his grip on his staff. Even though he recognized his mistake, he wasn't panicking at all, even with the goblin ambush.

  "Quagmire!"

  He slammed his staff into the ground, the magic stone at the top glowing with a dim blue light. In an instant, a large area around Eric collapsed into a quagmire. All the goblins were trapped, stuck in place.

  The magic stone embedded in the staff was a high-grade water magic stone, giving him a significant boost when casting water attribute spells. But Eric was also stuck now. The cave had stone walls on both sides, and he couldn't spread his bone wings to fly. He had to stand his ground and raise his staff.

  "Fireball!"

  A tiny magic circle opened at the top of the staff, and a fireball shot out precisely, hitting a goblin and killing it instantly.

  "Fireball!"

  He quickly turned his staff towards the other goblins. Fireball after fireball flew out. But soon, some goblins adapted to the quagmire and started moving towards Eric.

  Eric remained calm. Whenever a goblin got close, he swung his staff, smashing their heads one by one. Soon, the ground around him was covered with goblin bodies. Although goblins didn't give much experience, their sheer numbers meant Eric's experience bar was growing at a noticeable rate.

  "Huh, huh, huh!"

  The goblin's cries filled the entire cave. Eric's staff-swinging speed increased as well. Since it was a cave, the ground was just a layer of soil, with rock beneath it, so the quagmire wasn't deep. More and more goblins adapted to the quagmire and charged at Eric. Faced with the overwhelming number of goblins, Eric started to feel a bit overwhelmed, and his mana reserves were looking grim.

  "Looks like I need to break out first," he thought.

  Eric spotted a direction, pushed off with his legs, and leaped. His bone wings spread out behind him, and he activated wind magic to glide for a bit before landing on the quagmire. The surrounding goblins swarmed towards him.

  Eric reached into his coat, pulled out a rib bone sword, activated fire magic, and coated the sword in flames. Then, with one hand wielding the sword and the other the staff, he charged out of the encirclement with his high-quality gear.

  The surrounding goblins let out frustrated cries.

  [Ding, experience bar full, level up to Lv15]

  [+1 to Constitution, +1 to Spirit]

  [+1 free attribute point]

  He casually added the free attribute point to Spirit, leaving the one remaining from the last level-up for emergencies to boost Constitution and save his life.

  While running, he didn't forget to throw fireballs backward. The sound of the notifications in his ear told him that the goblins' deaths were fueling his growth.