DMS Chapter 141

Flinx’s fellow Earthlings looked exhausted, but all of them were excited.

“Killing the monsters on the deeper floors was challenging,” Mark said.

“Yes. We’ve all grown used to killing the level-one monsters from the first floor of the dungeon that the Torbal Slavers used to mine mana stones, so we had to break the habit of treating every dungeon monster like those weak goblins we were accustomed to slaughtering,” Andrew added.

“We also had to get used to casting the new spells we just bought, so our future delves will probably continue taking longer than usual while we learn the finer details of our skills and spells,” Edward said.

The classes of Flinx’s fellow Earthlings were diverse. There were wizards, druids, clerics, rogues, hunters, bards, fighters, monks, warlocks, and sorcerers. He briefly wondered why none of them possessed the barbarian class. There were also no hybrid classes, though those would likely appear after level ten or something similar.

“I did notice something,” Mark told Flinx. “You told us about your first encounter with monsters outside the town where you were transported, including the amount of experience you earned. I thought we’d receive the same amount, but based on our calculations, the experience points we gained were far lower than what you described.”

“Open your System Panel, Flinx, and go to the first tab. Scroll to the bottom and check if there are any details there. A friend of mine who died a long time ago once told me that a special option suddenly appeared there after he was struck by a stray spell cast by one of the Torbal Wizards,” Ruiz said.

Flinx followed Ruiz’s instructions. At the bottom of the first tab, he found a line written in an extremely small font.

“Due to surviving the use of the Chaos Gate of Cropanus, a one hundred percent increase to experience gain has been granted to the user.”

Flinx’s jaw dropped after reading it, and he immediately told everyone what the option said.

“Chaos Gate of Cropanus,” Arnold muttered softly.

“That must have been the gate you accidentally used to travel to this planet. Once we return to the world of the Torbal Slavers, we should check if it’s still there,” Paul said excitedly.

“Yeah! Maybe if we use it, all of us will receive the same option, or maybe even different ones!” Samuel, the youngest among them, exclaimed.

“I doubt it’s still there,” Flinx said softly. “When I returned to the world of the wizard enslavers, the place where the gate used to be had become the area where I slept. The entire place looked devastated, and there was nothing left. More than likely, those religious fanatics took everything. Still, I don’t mind checking again once we return there. Actually, I can probably do that immediately after I recover from the side effects of using the Wish spell to escape the spatial lock.”

“At the very least, I’m grateful that you received that blessing,” Mark said. “Without it, it would have taken you years to reach the level necessary to rescue us. By then, all of us would probably have been dead.”

Everyone realized the truth behind his words, and a shiver passed through the group.

“That also means it would take years before we could return to Earth,” Rico said.

“No, Rico,” Flinx replied. “Because of the blessing, I’m already level sixteen, so it shouldn’t take too long for me to reach level twenty. I hope. Once I reach that level, I can teleport all of us back to Earth. The only problem right now is that I’m not at full strength because of the debuff from using the Wish spell. Even so, my level is still high enough for me to safely delve into the deeper floors. I can even carry some of you, and I’m fairly certain I can keep my party members safe through the use of summons.”

“I don’t recommend carrying anyone,” Charlie said. “Based on the tests we conducted, delving into a group reduces the amount of experience each person gains. Normally, that drawback is balanced by the increased strength of the party, since larger groups can kill monsters faster. But you’re already powerful enough to kill dungeon monsters by yourself, and you do it quickly enough that you don’t need a party. Grouping with others would only slow your rate of gaining experience.”

Charlie was the kind of gamer who loved crunching numbers.

“It would still be nice to see how Flinx delves into the dungeon,” Mark said. “One day with a group shouldn’t affect him too much. Are you planning to enter the dungeon tomorrow?”

Flinx simply nodded.

He had already accepted that there would be no such thing as rest for him, even while suffering under a debuff. Flinx understood his fellow Earthlings’ desperation to return home. Most of them still had families waiting for them on Earth. He knew for a fact that many of them had already contacted their loved ones and promised that they would be returning home soon.

More than likely, they had become frustrated after realizing how slow their rate of experience gain truly was. Even so, they looked at Flinx with gratitude after he promised to do his best to reach level twenty as quickly as possible.

Flinx understood their feelings. People simply wanted to go home. Even the goal of destroying the Torbal Slavers had become secondary to returning to Earth.

“Can my group join your dungeon delve tomorrow?” Mark asked.

Flinx agreed, though he warned Mark that he intended to delve into the fortieth floor for safety reasons. Afterward, everyone returned to their towers to rest.

The next day, Flinx informed Olivia that he would resume delving into the dungeon.

“I thought you were planning to rest for a while?”

Flinx simply told his adopted family that he had changed his mind. In any case, he would still return home every night. He also informed Olivia that his “countrymen” would probably delay starting their businesses because everyone remained fascinated with dungeon delving.

After breakfast, everyone headed toward their respective destinations for the day. While walking to the Dungeon of Mara, some of his fellow Earthlings complained about the excessive taxes imposed by the guild. The wizards among them even told Flinx that once they reached the level required to learn the Teleport spell, they intended to bypass the guild entirely and enter dungeons directly.

Flinx merely shrugged. He could not control how others chose to use their abilities. In truth, he might eventually do the same thing himself.

Mark also requested that Flinx delve into the thirty-fifth floor instead of the fortieth floor of the Dungeon of Mara. Everyone felt that the fortieth floor was far too dangerous for people at their current levels, which were only levels three and four.

Flinx agreed without complaint.

Once they arrived at the Dungeon of Mara, they joined the queue. The other four teams still planned to delve into the twelfth and thirteenth floors. Based on their experiences the previous day, those floors were the most suitable for their current levels.

After entering the dungeon floor, Flinx cast the fifth-level wizard spell Conjure Elemental using the highest spell slots currently available to him. He then bound the elementals with the fifth-level wizard spell Planar Binding.

He chose earth elementals because the primary purpose of his summons was to protect Mark and the others.

Afterward, Flinx cast all of his defensive spells, and everyone else did the same. Normally, he would have also cast Fly, but since not everyone could fly, they decided to proceed on foot instead.