Once inside the marshy jungle of the first floor Ajax felt a lot more relaxed, there was a structure and a rule to dungeons that helped put him at ease on the lower floors where he knew there was nothing that could harm him.
The first thing Ajax did after taking a moment to relax and take a deep breath was activate [Mana Syphon] to draw in the dungeon floor’s naturally high ambient Mana to boost his body as he began moving to clear the area around the exit arch. There was nothing out of the ordinary but that was to be expected with the first floor of the dungeon. Even an out of the way dungeon like this would still have been delved enough that anything odd about the first floor would have been documented extensively.
Despite the low level of the creatures on the floor however Ajax maintained his stealth as he cleared the area. As much as he would have liked to simply blast his Mana and Aura out he knew that it wouldn’t work to clear the area, unlike outside the dungeon the monsters here would be drawn to attack him despite the clear difference in their power.
The alligator like reptiles proved no match for him, in their early forties the monsters would have been a good fight before Ajax first arrived at Gryndor capital but that had been a long time ago, now they would only serve as good training for his parents whose level was appropriate to fight them.
Despite the lack of challenge they presented, Ajax had to admit that the creatures were truly problematic for the first floor of a dungeon. They were mostly ambush predators adapting well to the muddy and wet waters to give themselves a chance for a devastating attack on an unsuspecting victim. Unfortunately for them none of them could hide from Ajax’s [Sense Mana] even if he did have some issues finding them with his other senses.
“After I wake up I should definitely try and train my other senses to locate them, I’m sure I can use [Empowering Restriction] to turn off my [Sense Mana] fully. This might even give me a good chance at unlocking some of the Skills for my other senses.” Ajax remembered that Hatchet had taught him about how to use different senses when hunting back when he was still a kid.
Back then Ajax had even tried to rely on his other senses a little, especially since not all of the creatures in the forest near his village had possessed Mana to allow his Skill to find them yet because of his dedication to playing with Mana the Skill had become so much stronger than his other senses by then it overpowered them.
It took about an hour before Ajax was happy that there should be no more monsters wandering around his area before he used Magma and Ice magic to create a flat dry area where could finally get some sleep. Ajax made sure to set up a few alarms to wake him up in case anything tried to approach him but he was pretty sure he had nothing to worry about other than the mosquitos that were buzzing around him.
[Poison Resistance] had turned to be an even more useful Skill than he had given it credit for. Despite the mosquitos having generated by the dungeon to live in a marshy area with such high Mana density they were still unleveled creatures, meaning their venom was easily overpowered by Ajax’s Skill so their bites wouldn’t be able to leave the annoying itchy marks their kind usually did after biting someone.
As soon as he laid down Ajax was out like a light. He had realized it when he used [Meditation] since he became so focused on Mana training but his body was ready for sleep. He didn’t usually have any issues falling asleep but he also didn’t just fall asleep within seconds of laying down.
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When he woke up Ajax saw it had been a little over ten hours since he fell asleep. Almost double the usual six hours that were enough for him to feel fully rested when he would go to sleep on a nightly basis. Now Ajax felt refreshed, he wasn’t feeling sluggish or tired like he did when he stopped [Meditation] so he took a moment to stretch before he started hunting the monsters that called the marsh their home.
Using [Empowering Restriction] to block off [Mana Sense] turned out to be almost useless unless he also stopped using [Mana Syphon], even if he wouldn’t be getting the same clarity the Legendary Skill could still work like a slightly weaker version of the Skill letting Ajax know about any bit of Mana it was stealing for him.
Once he stopped using his Legendary Skill as well Ajax could finally start making some progress. It still wasn’t that difficult for him to find the creatures, even though Perception was one of his lowest Stats it was still high enough to help notice the hidden creatures.
After about two hours Ajax had started to notice a pattern of what to look for, it was becoming less and less of a challenge for him to find any of the hidden monsters, surprisingly it wasn’t sight that he relied on in the absence of [Sense Mana] but rather smell. [Impervious Senses] was a Rare Skill he had gained from his first interaction with a kitsune’s illusions but it turned out to be spectacular at blocking out the Skills used to mask one’s scent. Ajax had gained a level in the Skill but he was more interested in unlocking new Skills to improve his sight, smell or hearing rather than improving his ability to resist having them obscured by other Skills.
The second floor of the dungeon was one of shadow and curse Mana. It had been a while since Ajax had last faced demons yet after his fight with the chimera he decided to take the chance and see if there was anything else he could gleam about other uses of Curse Mana that he could copy.
Unfortunately for Ajax all of the creature types on the floors used Curse Mana when casting directly, something Ajax not only couldn’t do but it would actively curse him to try doing so. It took Ajax less than an hour to fight out there was nothing for him to find on the floor so he quickly moved on and started searching for a good third and final floor where he could take some time and work on his [Alchemy].
It took Ajax only one hour before he found an arch with Life, Plant and another type of Mana he had seen before when dealing with floors that had a lot of plants that could be used for alchemy. It wasn’t a Mana type he had seen a creature or mage use yet so he didn’t have a name for it or know what it did.
Now that he was on a floor with level ninety fives Ajax knew he would have to be a lot more careful, just as it was proven outside the dungeon even if he would have an overwhelming advantage in a straight up fight against pretty much any level ninety five the dungeon would throw at him they could still pose a real threat to him if he was taken by surprise.
The third floor was a forest that was home to numerous ents, the living trees being a very territorial species outside the dungeon would waste no time converging on Ajax’s location any time he tried to stop and set up his Alchemy station.
After his third failed attempt Ajax decided to just clear the floor and then work on his [Alchemy]. It would mean that he might have to give up on having the freshest ingredients but he simply couldn’t work when he was interrupted twenty minutes after his lab was set up by numerous angry ents charging at him.
It took Ajax a little over a day to clear out half the floor when everything changed. Floor bosses were guaranteed past level one hundred but they also became a lot more common as one approached level one hundred as well. Ajax could feel the change in the ambient Mana and he could help but curse as it was quickly followed by a change in temperature.
The entire forest got extremely hot and was starting to dry out as the Fire Mana spread throughout the floor. Ajax could tell it weakened the ents, not only that but it also made them less aggressive, unfortunately for him the new environment was a horrible one for him to practice his alchemy. For the first time Ajax had come upon an elemental floor boss, one who actually weakened the monster on the floor rather than strengthen them, this was usually considered a lucky thing by most delvers but Ajax couldn’t help but curse as it ruined his plans of practicing his alchemy.
With that Ajax sped up as he started searching for the floor boss. He hoped there might be something interesting a floor boss elemental would have to show him that a regular dungeon elemental couldn’t do then this would turn out to be a lucky encounter rather than a bad break.