Chapter 14: Chapter Fourteen: A Fight, and Concern
"Raagh!" Screamed an Orc as it was gutted by a Halberd.
Corwyn snarled as he thrusted deeply into its fat layered gut, quickly taking the blade out and bashing the halberd's butt into a leaping Imp's face.
The imp's weight clashed with him, sending his feet sliding back in the mud of Floor 10, the young warrior gritting his teeth as he leaned back further as to dodge the lash of a trunk from the dying Orc.
"OGgggh." The pig-man gargled as blood seeped from its lips and it staggered towards him, seeking to crush him with its mass.
Corwyn quickly got his feet under him and lashed out with the back spike of his halberd, the blade biting deeply into the Orc's skull and sending it to the floor. He then started swinging circles with his halberd, building up momentum and creating a sphere of 'domain' that his weapon's reach control.
Corwyn half-stepped towards a pair of Imps that were circling his range and grinned savagely as he watched the pair of ghouls get torn into two uneven pieces.
The attack had him open, only for him to keep using the momentum of his strike and swing around to the leaping Imps and use the back spike to kill it dead.
One from his flank wasn't dealt with and started closing the distance, only for Corwyn to shift his hands on the polearm and choke it by the neck.
Ripping the blade out of the dead Imp's spine, the young man planted the axe blade into the charging Imps face, splitting its skull.
"Raagh!" Roared a voice from the fog, and from the distance, a dozen Imps and two Orcs emerged.
Corwyn scowled, taking a deep breath, before he fell into a stance and prepared.
The first wave of Imps leaped at him, quickly being disposed as he thrusted quickly and slashed away three lives with lightning quick lashes of his blade. Eight split into four and start to surround him, before the slower two Orcs stumbled into a boorish charge as they aimed to smash him with their bulk or crush him with their landform weapons.
Corwyn snarled in response to the tactic and instead of retreating out of the formation, he charged the two Orcs, aiming for the lead.
His halberd held out in a thrust, Corwyn leaped forward and speared the Orc in the throat with his weapon. He kept running with the weapon, before he used it as a vaulting pole and sprang over the beast as it tilted backwards from the clash.
As he vaulted into the air, his arms yanked forward with superhuman strength as he ripped the blade from the bone and fat of the Orcs neck and landed neatly just behind it in a roll.
He oriented the halberd in his hands and used the long reach and leverage of his weapon to send a devastating slash to the turning side of the adjacent Orc, the steel ripping through hide and bone as it passed through the Orc.
Corwyn slashed his halberd and decapitated the Orc before mopping up the Imps, as he cut the last imp in half his brow twitch as he heard that damnable roar.
"Another..."
From the mist came not one, but three Orcs. The boorish monsters came in like a trident, two flanking him and one facing him head on, the Orc strangely defensive.
Corwyn frowned at the tactic and fell into a defensive position himself. He used his reach to start prodding the monsters, only for the flankers to pounce and lash out.
Corwyn parried on trunk, slapping it aside with his blade, only for the second to clip his dodging shoulder and send him into the ground rolling.
"Grrg." Corwyn growled and sprung up to his feet once he stopped rolling, his halberd rose to the side of his head, spike pointing towards the three orcs as he once changed up his stance and decided to take a more evasive role.
His shoulder healed up at a visible rate as he made sure to walk in a direction he wouldn't get flank like that again, before he sprang at one of the beasts.
His blade lashed out like a viper, this time the spike entered the boar-man's eye. Just as quick as it invaded, it retreated and lashed out at a charging boar-man's raised hand.
The hand and its trunk-like club fell to the ground as Corwyn kicked off the ground and sent a rib-cage crushing and lung lacerating rear-spike lash to the third charging Orc.
He retreated, spinning his halberd in a flourish as he rounded back and decapitated the pain addled Orc before doing a 270 degree spin to build momentum for his last strike as he planted his rear-spike once more in the last Orc; this time in its temple.
The spike split its skull horizontally, blood and gray matter leaking out like a burst beer-can.
Corwyn calmed down and took a deep breath, his Cold Fury Skill deactivating as he returned to his normal state of mind.
Corwyn rolled his shoulder and checked how it felt, before humming in satisfaction as he inspected his loot. He took out his hunting knife and carving knife and started getting to work.
He quickly ran over to where he'd stashed two of his satchel bags and started loading up on stones and drop items.
'Fourteen days since I learned my magic, six of them have been dedicated to the Dungeon.' Corwyn thought as he did the grisly work. 'I've replaced Hojo's training days with twelve hour-long dungeon grinds. And thanks to these beauties, I don't need a supporter on my ass.'
Corwyn grinned at the two satchels.
'Uncommon - Supporter Satchel of Extreme Storage' X2!
Extreme Storage: Its bigger on the inside~!
On each dungeon run, Corwyn blazes through the first seven floors, stopping on the eighth floor to farm Purple Moths, Killer Ants, and War Shadows.
Purple Moths for the poison resistance and difficulty in fighting while poisoned raising how much Exelcia he got, Killer Ants for being Exelcia and Magic Stone farms, and War Shadows for the ambush practice.
'I now jump at every moving shadow, proving that this training is working!' Corwyn thought sarcastically.
Once he finished with his 'warm-up' Corwyn skipped down to the Tenth floor to fight brutal 1 Verses Many combat against the Imps, Sound Bats, and Orcs that populated the floor. He hadn't even tried fighting an Infant Dragon, but out of all the foes he found the Sound Bats most annoying.
'I average around 40-50 Orc Stones, 150-200 Imp Stones, 15-25 Sound Bat Stone, 200-300 Killer Ant Stone, 15-30 War Shadow Stone, and 10-20 Purple Moth Drops every day.' Corwyn noted as he started collecting.
'Today's haul...' Corwyn quickly calculated his estimated haul. '95,000 from Orc magic stones, 56,000 from Orc Hides, 162,000 from Imp Stone, 180,000 from Imp Claws, 21,000 from Sound Bat stones, 57,700 from Bat Eyes, 157,500 from Killer Ant Stones, 46,200 from Chiton Pieces, 50,700 from War Shadows, 44,400 from War Shadow Claws, 11,400 from Purple Moth Stones, and 6,200 from Purple Moth Powder.
Corwyn did some quick mental math and came into a total of around 670,000 thousand Vails.
'I still have to go up, so that'll be around 700 thousand. All in a good days work.'
Normal adventurers wouldn't dream of ever having such a profit. However, Corwyn had many, many things going for him.
One would be that he didn't drink, whore, gamble, or have any 'normal' vices. His old life was very mundane, and while the entertainment district did interest him, he'd had a dozen and one sex-talks in his schooling. STD this, STD that, birth control that, teen-father this.
Corwyn didn't want to deal with any of that baggage.
Gambling didn't interest him, beer and ale was gross and he'd much rather sit by a fire with a quality glass of whiskey than anything the pub goers drank. Even then, he drank on occasion, not for fun.
Then there was repairs and equipment, of which he made, repaired, and fashioned all on his lonesome. After repairs, there'd be healing. Getting injured in the Dungeon was par for the course, yet once again, he had a free version of that too.
He didn't pay for lodging, and most of his wealth went into buying steel at bulk and discounted prices due to being in the Goibniu familia, scrap steel, lead, and other dense materials for his weights, and so on. Those purchases were shillings compared to the hundreds of thousands an adventurer would spend daily in their daily upkeep, familia taxes (to which the Goibniu familia had such, but were more made for higher end deals, shops, and other such areas that made the 'real' money than noobs who made shillings). The familia fund had a significant portion that actually went towards supporting people like him. Talents that would rise and step into higher levels.
All told, Corwyn had made a briliant nest egg of 4.3 million Valis. In six days, he'd created more wealth than most civilians would make in years of back breaking work.
As Corwyn shouldered his full satchels and started up the stairs, the young man fell into his thoughts.
'I'm due for a Status Upgrade right about now. I should be in the B's or maybe even the A's. I'll reach those stats before heading down to the very top Mid floors. Try and fight a minotaur and level up, maybe even an Infant Dragon.' Corwyn thought as he rose through the floors, kicking some creatures to death or running from packs of monsters.
In a rough thirty minute commute, he made it back to the surface.
The light blinded him briefly, before he adjusted and started to make his way to the Guild.
He entered the building and bee-lined for the tellers and started unloading his satchels by the fist full.
After filling the drawer up, he filled it up again, and again, before he got his total amount of 712,340 Valis. The gold felt heavy in his satchel and he smiled with satisfaction.
Before he could leave, a voice called out to him.
"Hey, are you Rose's Adventurer?" He turned and looked down. A guild clerk was looking up at him with some confusion.
"I am, or I was." Corwyn nodded.
"Was? What do you mean, was?"
Corwyn frowned, "Is there a sheet or form I need to fill out to break our contract?"
The pink haired woman blinked, stunned. "Wha, why would you want to do that?"
"She...she didn't want me there. I felt like we were friends, but then I went to the dungeon and she became closed off." Corwyn shrugged, the action causing his satchel to jingle with gold.
"I felt like I was causing her pain, or she was trying to be professional, I...I don't know, okay? I've never been the kind of guy to give comfort, as I usually make it worse." Corwyn's eyes darted around, looking for an escape as his old social anxiety started to kick in. "So, I uh, gave her some space. Stopped our meetings. Cut the connection."
The pink haired woman blinked. "Wow. A socially awkward smith. Never thought I'd see the day." She muttered. "Come by on your scheduled meeting next time. Rose thinks your dead."
Corwyn blinked. "Uh. Well, shit. I should meet her now."
The pink haired girl shook her head, "She's been forced to take leave. Royman said something about 'Mental Health Concerns', but that just made her start sobbing." Corwyn's face twitched. "She still hangs around on Thor's Day. By the lobby."
Corwyn nodded. "I'll swing by. Thanks, by the way. You didn't have to do this."
The woman smiled up at him. "No problem!"
He watched her walk away and furrowed his brow in concern.
'Rose...what's wrong?' He just wished he had the guts to ask.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone