Chapter 38: Progress
The jungle was also an island surrounded by fire. It was a very large island.
What makes this dungeon even harder than the rest was looking for the boss room that was covered in lush greens, poison, and monsters.
"Be careful. All monsters in this irregular dungeon will explode upon death." Sky said.
"How do you… nevermind." Jay was starting to learn not to ask questions because Sky would not explain, but he was always right.
"Here." Sky handed Jay and Jericho antidotes.
"If you feel like you've been poisoned, use it immediately."
"How much do these cost?" Jericho asked.
"Not much."
*Bang* Jay shot at something in the forest.
"I saw something move. Hang on." Jay aimed Betty instead of his handgun at the same spot but neither Sky nor Jericho could see anything.
*BANG*
Out of the barrel a fire bullet was shot out and it set the enemy and the place around it on fire.
{Jay has killed man-eating plant}
*Boom* There was a small explosion in the same place Jay shot.
"I think I killed it."
"I think you did." Sky was impressed with his eyesight.
Man-eating plants can camouflage with their environment.
Jay has the marksman talent but apparently his talent doesn't just restrict him to aiming and shooting guns. With this talent Jay is able to see others from far away, and even handle guns many can't use like Betty.
Jay needed some practice and strength to be able to handle Betty.
"I think I'm getting used to this." Jay rubbed his shoulder, Betty still hurts him after every use but not as much as before.
"Sky, I don't think it's a good idea to go to the jungle if all the monsters explode upon impact!"
Jericho stated.
"You're right. But I have a better idea. Jay, prepare to put out a fire. Jericho, steer the ship around the island."
"What?"
Sky stood at the edge of his ship staring at the jungle island. He pointed his hands at the jungle and shot out multiple fireballs at once and did not stop shooting.
"Ohh… I see now." Jay said.
The fire would spread out like wildfire as Sky kept throwing more fireballs at anything that was still green.
After a while the entire forest was covered in fire and smoke.
"Doesn't that look beautiful?" Sky said with an evil grin.
"I mean it's okay."
{Skill level up}
{Fireball: lvl 3: 300 damage: 30% chance to burn target}
{Level up}
{Sky Rouge}
{Level 129}
{Stat points: 10}
Sky saw the notifications pop up per every single monster he just killed. And per every notification that popped up an explosion could be heard.
He wanted to level up because his intelligence stat was at 288 and if he was correct at three hundred he would unlock another useful skill.
'One more level left.'
"Captain, problem." Jay pointed to the island.
They saw humans the size of trees running towards them. They all looked identical: hair everywhere that was brown, with wooden clubs, ragged clothes, thick muscle mass, and all of them were angry.
Their size could equal the size of a two story house.
'Identify.'
{Giant}
{HP: 2855//3,100} {Mana: 50/50} {Str: 500 Dex: 40 Spd: 40 Int: 10 Mind: 10 Vig: 300}
{Bulky body: Strength is increased by 50%}
Sky would have worried about them if this was the first dungeon he had entered. But now he wasn't even scared at all. Most of them had taken some minor damage from the fire.
The giants ran as quickly as they could towards them. Since they were tall the water reached their waists.
The few of them who stayed back at the island threw anything they could find at them. But with the island on fire they could not possibly stay behind long enough.
Giants throwing projectiles at exterminator ships is one of the reasons many exterminators had died. Most of the giants like to pluck out a tree from its roots and throw it.
"Jay, shoot them down. Jericho, man the cannons and steer the ship if they get too close." Jay began shooting them down with Betty and always landing headshots. Jericho, for the first time, began using the cannons with the help of the system.
*BOOM* Every giant that died exploded and damaged the other giants nearby.
Sky stopped the few projectiles that were thrown at them, not that he needed to, the giant's aim was terrible.
'Sloth. Sloth. Sloth. Sloth…'
Every giant found themselves slowing down. They were already slow but now even more so.
'Poison. Poison. Poison. Poison…'
Soon every giant was dying from the poison damage and they all felt incredible pain but that did not slow them down.
The giants began throwing their clubs at the crew after realizing they were not going to reach them.
Sky merely deflected their attacks using telekinesis. Sky would have stopped their attacks in mid-air but with the difference of their strength and his intelligence stat he could not stop them but deflect them.
*BOOM* *BOOM* Soon every giant exploded one after another like a chain of explosives going on.
The powerful giants died while Sky and his crew suffered no damage.
"Good job, everyone. Honestly this is the best way we could have dealt with it." Sky said.
If they had gone in and faced the monsters head on it would have been more difficult and risky.
"What are you going to do about the fire?" Jericho pointed to the island still on fire.
"Wait until it dies down. There are only so many trees on that island. Jay shoot down anything you see heading towards us." Sky sat down and enjoyed the view.
After an hour the fire died down. During that hour Sky could hear more explosions from the distance.
Once the fire died down Sky set the boat near the charred island.
"That was easier than expected. Jay, Jericho, protect your face from the debris." Sky produced a powerful gust of wind that pushed everything into the water to clear the area.
The air coming out of his hands was so powerful it cut through the charred debris as they were tiny sharp swords.
Sky merely wanted to push back the debris, not destroy it. His wind-runner ability and mana is so high leveled that the wind pressure he shot out was stronger than he anticipated.
{New skill learned}
'Wait, what?'
{Razor wind: shoot sharp wind that cuts down others like tiny invisible blades}
{Razor wind: lvl 1: 40 damage per second}
{Mana cost: 16/s} As soon as that new technique was created it became more potent and destroyed everything it touched.
"Woah." Sky looked at his hands. The system will never stop surprising him.
'Wind is actually better than I thought.'
"Sky, I see something." Jay said.
"Then shoot it down."
"No, it's something not living. It's that thing." Jay pointed.
They all looked and saw underneath the rubble a square building.
Sky and Jericho looked at each other. They both knew who it was.
"You're about to meet someone important, Jay."
"What?"
Sky cleared out the debris and opened the doors to see the Merchant.
"Howdy Sky!" The Merchant began spinning around.
'Howdy?'
"Who is that?" Jay asked. The sight of the faceless man inside a squared building was weird and alarming.
"I am the Merchant! Nice to meet you, Jay!" The Merchant leaned over and shook Jay's hands firmly and repeatedly.
"You know me?"
"Not in person but I got to read your file. Honestly, your failed love story brought me so much emotion. I've read so many other similar failed love stories like yours but it never gets old." The Merchant wiped away his imaginary tears with a towel.
"..." Jay looked at Sky hoping for an answer.
"Jay, this… man? I don't know much about him either but he is very helpful and can sometimes be trusted."
"Sometimes?"
"Just don't steal anything." Sky ignored them and browsed through the store.
'Hmm nothing good in the shop unfortunately. However, those quests…'
Sky saw three quests that were too good to be true.
{Personal quest: Polymorph}
{It is us again! After studying your world we realized there is one ability that we could use to easily transport high valued slaves: polymorph! In exactly three months and 16 days there will be a purple dungeon that drops the polymorph skill. If you accept we will give you more information} {Quest rewards: 3x purple scrolls, 80,000,000 shells}
"Is this the family you hate?" Sky asked.
"Yup." The Merchant said without emotion. Talking about that family makes him feel horrible.
"The card ability you gave them made them very happy. However it isn't an ideal way to transport slaves because you have to beat them up first."
"What's polymorph?"
"It's a purple grade ability: It can transform any living being into any animal."
"Wow. I'll take that quest."
"Of course you will."
{Quest accepted}
{New quest info is being given}
{The purple dungeon will be shown on the system's map along with a timer. Any more information about the dungeon will not be given}
Sky read the other two quests that caught his eye. He could not see the system map as he wasn't near his ship or outside of the dungeon yet.
{SPECIAL QUEST: Level 200}
{Reach level 200}
{Quest reward: 5+ items to the Merchant shop OR 1+ special item}
Sky accepted that quest without hesitation.
{Quest: I LOVE TOURNAMENTS!}
{Within the next month go to any fighting tournament, participate in it and win first place by a large landslide! Please don't suck ass like the other system users I've seen!}
{Quest failure: Unable to win first place. Due time not met}
{Reward: 40,000,000 shells, 4 red shells}
Sky also accepted this quest. It was a weird quest but the rewards were too generous.
"Like I said, you'd be surprised at the different kinds of people that issue quests." The Merchant smirked but his face didn't show it.
After a while they bid farewell and went to find the boss door.
"Captain, how do you know him? How did he even appear in that building?" Jay couldn't help but ask.
"I also don't know. I just know he's here to help." Sky responded honestly.
After a while they found the boss room.
"You two remember what Mr. J said, right?" Sky asked.
Both his crewmates nodded.
"Good."
"Oh, wait a second, Captain! Summon war hog!"
A giant red hog was summoned in front of Jay. It was 2 meters long, had a strong build, had two large husks, and it seemed angry every time it breathed. Sky opened the door. They saw a beautiful woman in the middle of the boss room. She was covered head to toe in leaves and grass. She was very tall, at least 15 feet tall.
Everyone was on guard as they knew what to expect.
'Identify.'
{Leaf: Boss}
{HP: 4,100/4,100} {Mana: 200/200} {Str: 120 Dex: 700 Spd: 700 Int: 40 Mind: 60 Vig: 400}
{Grassy body: 100% weak to fire damage. All grass abilities deal 100% more damage}
{Natural soul: Immune to most debuffs (poison, curses, etc)}
{Poisonous whip: Whips that poison anyone it touches: Deals 700 damage}
{Iron grass: Shoots iron grass as they they were projectiles}
{Leaf sword: Conjure a leaf sword}
Once the doors were shut the boss made the first move. It swung its whip at Sky but Sky caught it with his hand as it coiled around it.
Leaf tried to pull back its whip but Sky held it firmly.
{Received 1,400 damage → 20% negated: 1,120 received}
{You have been poisoned. You will suffer 60 damage every second} {Received 60 poison damage → 60% negated: 24 damage received}
"Heal! Super strength! Jay, aim for its legs!" Both of their strength stats were equal. What Sky needed to do was keep it in one place even if it meant getting poisoned.
Jay shot Betty and left a hole in its thigh. While the war hog quickly ran towards the boss.
{Jay has dealt 1,200 damage}
{Leaf boss is unable to use left leg}
{Leaf is suffering 100(200) fire damage per second}
{HP: 2,600/4,100} Before its entire body was to be caught on fire Leaf cut off its leg entirely without hesitation. It dealt more damage to itself but saved itself in the process.
{HP: 2,600/4,100}
Leaf let go of its whip and started hopping around in one leg.
"Lightning eagles!" All five lightning eagles flew straight to Leaf. Leaf conjured a leaf blade and swung its swords that threw thousands of needle sized grass blades that killed every single lightning bird and the War hog.
{All eagles have been destroyed}
{Summoning 5x lightning eagles}
Leaf threw more grass blades at the crew. The numbers were easily in the tens of thousands.
As Sky was about to use his wind ability to stop them all the iron grass blades stopped in mid-air.
Jericho managed to stop every single blade of grass.
Leaf stood there in shock.
"They're actually made of metal." Jericho pointed out.
She threw the iron leaf blades back at the boss. Leaf swung her sword to deflect the iron grass and dodged every single attack. Despite having only one leg it was still quick and agile.
As Leaf continued to dodge its own attack the entire room soon was on fire. Sky shot his flamethrower at every part of the room, not letting it run anymore.
While it was trapped Jay shot at it once more.
{Jay has dealt critical damage! Headshot!}
{Jay has dealt 2,400 damage}
{Leaf is in a daze and is unable to move}
The weakened boss dropped its sword and it was consumed by the grass blades controlled by Jericho.
{Boss has fallen}
*BOOM* A large explosion erupted once the boss died. Sky used his wind to deflect any projectiles from hitting them.
{Received: 300,000 exp, 450,000 shells, 1x green scroll}
{Level up}
{Level up}
{HP, Mana, and stamina has been recovered. Removed all debuffs}
{Level 131}
{Stat points: 20}
{Jericho Haydie has dealt the final blow and received the final hit reward} In front of Jericho a mask made out of yellow leaves appeared out of nowhere. This time Jericho caught it before it fell.
"Again?" Jericho looked at Sky, it was clear he had something to do with items appearing out of thin air.
"Let me see that." Jericho handed the mask and Sky examined it.
{Leaf mask: Red}
{800+ HP}
{When stepping on grass heals wearer 100 HP per second}
"Hmm it only heals its wearer when stepping on grass. Keep it and sell it." Sky handed the mask back to Jericho.
"Thanks." Sky opened the chest to receive its rewards.
{Received: 500,000 shells, 1x red scroll, 1x red item}
{Earring of the simp}
{1000+ Mana when worn}
{Recover 200% mana when worn. Can only be worn by females}
Sky groaned. Such a good item and he can't use it.
"Jericho, wear this."
"What does it do?"
"It recovers your mana 200% faster. And it can only be worn by women. Don't sell it."
"Hm… okay." Jericho wore the earring on her right ear.
"I've never worn an earring before. Is this good?"
"What a coincidence! Neither have I." Sky smirked and examined the two scrolls.
"..." Jericho.
{Green scroll: 5+ speed}
{Red scroll: 21+ Vigor}
"I call dibs on the red scroll. Jay, you can have the green scroll. It increases your speed."
"Nice." Jay ripped the scroll without skipping a beat.
{Spd: 59}
Sky ripped the red scroll.
{Vig: 288}
{HP: 9,320/9,320}
Both his vigor and intelligence stat were exactly the same and twelve points away from reaching 300 stat points.
"Hmm… first I wanna see if something happens upon reaching 300 points, but what to choose first? Eeny, meeny, miny, you."
{Vig: 288 → 300}
{HP: 9,430/9430} {Stat points: 20 → 8}
{Vigor has reached 300 stat points}
{Max HP has been increased by 1,000. Damage negation has increased to 30%. Regeneration rate has increased to 30%}
{HP: 10,430/10,430}
Sky was glad. Apart from the amazing benefits he just received it confirms that any stat points upon reaching 300 will grant him more benefits, and his intelligence stat was close to reaching 300 as well.
"Let's leave. We still have many more dungeons to complete today." Sky eyed at one of the quests.
{Quest: Complete 10 red dungeons: 4/10 remaining}
{Quest rewards: 3x red scrolls, 1 red grade item, 10,000,000 shells, 7,000,000 exp}
They left soon after and sailed to all the portals/dungeons with good drops at the end. Their goal was to get as much money as possible, getting stronger was a secondary goal. In no time they managed to clear another portal and make it out with a great haul.
{Quest: Complete 10 red dungeons: 5/10 remaining}
{Sky Rouge}
{Level 132}
{Stat points: 13}
With the amount of stat points he had he placed it all into intelligence.
{Int: 288 → 301}
{Stat points: 13 → 0}
{Mana: 6,385 → 6,450}
{Intelligence has reached 300}
{2000+ Mana. Mana damage has increased to 50%. Mana cost reduction has increased to 30%}
{New skill learned: Cryokinesis}
{Mana: 8,450/8,450}
{Cryokinesis: lvl 1: Conjure and manipulate weak ice with your mind}
Sky conjured some ice in his hands and he felt incredibly cold. It was the same with pyrokinesis just because he can manipulate fire and ice doesn't mean he was immune to it.
On their way to the next portal Sky practiced cryokinesis while pondering about, and that's about the quest.
{Quest: Paying back a great debt}
{Help the Haydie family pay back their enormous debt to the Caribbean: 0/500,000,000}
{Time limit: 5 months 17 days}
{Quest failure punishment: Jericho Haydie, Katelyn Haydie, and Mabel Haydie will become slaves to repay their debt}
As Sky read that quest again he wondered why was Jericho also included to be a slave? They made it clear that Jericho will not be made a part of the debt but why would she still become a slave? Sky had many theories in mind but the one that made the most sense is that Jericho will try to help out her family and that she'll volunteer to become a slave to help her family.
By the end of the day after non-stop grinding they managed to count their loot.
{Quest completed: 10/10 red dungeons cleared}
{Received: 3 red scrolls, 1 red grade item, 10,000,000 shells, 7,000,000 exp}
{Total loot collected: 13 red scrolls, 10 red grade items, 25,600,000 shells, 13,800,000 exp, 1x merchant scroll} (quest reward included)
{Level 147}
{Stat points: 75}
{Shells: 63.8m}
This was a massive haul for any normal exterminator group in such a short time.
Every time they kill a red dungeon boss there is a red item guaranteed to drop as a last hit drop reward. Not to mention all the hidden chests Jericho found.
Everyone stared in awe to see the amazing loot they got.
"You know guys, I think five months is too much time." Everyone nodded in agreement. At the rate they were going, in a month they might even pay back the five hundred million shells.
This is how they distributed the loot: Sky: 6 red scrolls, 1 red item.
Jay: 2 red items, 2 red scrolls.
Jericho: 5 red scrolls, 6 red items, 25m shells.
Any items or scrolls they did not need or want were given to Jericho to sell.
Sky ripped the scrolls he got after identifying them.
{Red scroll: Stamina absorption: lvl 1: Absorbs the stamina of others by touching them}
{Red scroll: Evil water: 100% increase in water attacks: 100% decrease in fire attacks)
{Red scroll: 44+ Str} {Red scroll: 36+ Spd}
{Red scroll: Summon shark: lvl 1: Summons a shark}
{Red scroll: Illusion clone: lvl 1: Conjures a single illusion of a clone of yourself}
{Str: 126 → 170}
{Spd: 121 → 157}
{Red item: Golem helmet of greater damage absorption}
{2000+ HP when worn}
{Ability: Absorbs 20,000 damage: 2 hour cooldown}
Sky chose to wear the helmet but the golem helmet covered his entire face which meant he had to get rid of his viking helmet, and mask of minor illusions.
{Viking helmet: Green+ 400+ HP 30+ Str when worn} {Mask of minor illusion: Green+ grade. 400+ HP when worn. 700+ mana when worn. Ability: Creates an illusion of its wearer that lasts for 10 minutes: Mana cost: 150}
{HP: 10,430 → 9,630}
{Mana: 8,450 → 7,750}
{Str: 170 + 80 → 170 + 50}
Once he placed on his helmet his HP grew once more.
{HP: 9,630 → 11,630}
When night fell they decided to dock their ship on the closest island they could find and rented a hotel room for the night.
Sky could vaguely hear Jericho calling her sister and mother telling them what they achieved today. That gave him the idea to call his own family as well to let them know how he was doing.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone