'Ugh.. that took forever' Abel let out a sigh of relief once he was done but he also looked gratified. He had skinned dozens of monster carcasses during the last 30 minutes and he had quite the gains.

He had gotten 54 get stone-toothed rat teeth, 73 stone-toothed rat tails and 48 stone-toothed rats meat. There was also around 20 damaged monster parts but Abel decided to discard them, unless he had left over space in the end, be he doubted that. They would only sell for a single copper coin each.

He figured he'd already have to make a trip back and forth for the more valuable parts after he was done clearing out the dungeon.

By his rough calculations, according to the price he got at the Universal Bazaar, his loot was currently worth around 7 and a half silvers!

Abel carefully packed everything up and made his way to the blast site where he found the stairs leading down to the second level.

'It seems the chest had to be opened to lead the way down, but why the hell did it have to explode!'

The stairway at the bottom opened up and the path branched out in to three different directions!

'It looks like this is going to take a while… that's fine, I can log out on the first floor if I don't clear out this one in the next 2 hours'

Abel inwardly thought as he figured he'd have to log out to eat something and get some sleep. It was around 8:00 am on Luminara and he figured Frankie and Melly should be done having breakfast around now.

He planned to log off by 10 am and get a few hours sleep, otherwise the system would notify him log off again. Besides, he wanted to be in tip-top shape for the next floor. Considering it was a Neuro-link that he established to be in this world, if he got sleepy in real life then it would definitely affect his reactions in-game.

Abel walked ahead to the branch on the right and he found 4 burrows on each side.

'So, if I guessed this right, this floor should have a total of 24 rooms, maybe 25 if there's a central room like the floor above. Does that mean the next floor will have 48? Or 49? What about a fourth floor….'

He tried to put away any distracting thoughts as he made his way into the first burrow. He came across another group of rats, like the last room on the floor above, except this time they were all a level higher.

"Inspect"

[Stone-toothed Rat Sergeant] (Normal Monster)

Level: 6

Attack: 24-27

Defense: 18

HP:250/250

[Stone-toothed Rat] (Normal Monster)

Level: 5

Attack: 15-18

Defense: 12

HP:190/190

Abel found a few normal stone-toothed rats with a sergeant among them, except they were all a level higher than the floor above.

His inspect enraged them as always and pulled the aggro onto him right away. As he swung his sword at the first rat that got to him, he thought about swinging his torch too but was afraid the force would break it. If he were to lose his only source of light in this dark dungeon then he'd be as good as dead. He kept such intrusive thoughts at bay as he swiftly made quick work of the monster ahead of him.

-35

-35…

As Abel weaved through the room, he tried to incorporate the steps to the Xiang family martial arts he knew. Although he didn't want to distract himself, it was a rare opportunity to get some practical experience while facing weaker monsters. He found himself taking lesser hits after a minute from changing his footwork.

While he hadn't actually practiced these steps before, he knew them like the back of his hand and his avatar would move according to his thoughts in the virtual world. He could feel himself getting slightly faster and more agile as he continued to slash and stab at the monster before him.

He lost himself in a trance, trying to go faster and faster… and before he knew it he was standing alone in the room, surrounded by monster carcasses.

*Ding*

User has created a new skill; would you like to name it?

Yes/No

Abel stood there in a daze, not knowing what was going on. A few seconds passed before the system deemed his silence as a No and notified him again.

*Ding*

Since user has chosen not to name the skill, randomly generated skill name shall be used.

New Active Skill: Serpents Dance (Upgradeable)
+10% Agility for 30 seconds
+10% movement speed for 30 seconds
+10% attack speed for 30 seconds

Cost: 10 Mana
Cooldown: 60 seconds

'Wha-You can create an active skill?' Abel still couldn't get over the notification before his eyes.

'Of course, if you could "learn" real life skills then why can't a player create an active skill.' Abel had never questioned this fact before now. Active skills differed from other skills since they utilized Mana, Willpower or Spirit. While every being had access to Mana, there were other forces that were exclusive to certain professions.

He had never thought of creating an active skill due to the need for this otherworldly force. Even if he created a special sword move, he didn't know how to use the mana in the game so he figured an active skill could only be learned in-game.

'How did I learn it so quickly though…' Abel thought back to the feeling he had when he was dodging and weaving through the monsters and couldn't understand what he did to create the Serpents Dance.

He had to admit, he felt like a dancing serpent, slithering between his enemies while dealing sharp blows when an opportunity showed itself. It was quite an apt name for the movement technique and its ability was not to be underestimated.

To give +10% to agility meant it would play a greater relevance even at a high level since agility aided in his attack. Movement speed and Attack Speed were also crucial in all battles.

'How can I upgrade it though? It doesn't mention anything.'

Abel studied the skill's details further, trying to see any mention of an upgrade path or requirement. It merely stated that the skill could be upgraded but didn't tell him how exactly. He also noticed his Sword Proficiency increased greatly.

+158/1000 Basic Sword Proficiency- Greenhorn (15.8%)

'Just like the instructor said. Footwork is the essence of the sword… Maybe it needs me to have higher sword proficiency to show the requirements? Whatever, at least I can make use of my mana now.'

Fortunately, unlike a players HP bar, mana could regenerate with rest and time. Although it was very slow, at about 1 MP per minute, but it would go up on its own without needing any consumables.

Of course, a person could also purchase mana potions or other items that would aid in mana recovery but this wasn't something Abel could afford after emptying out his pockets.

'I should clear out this pathway before taking some of my loot back to the city and log out for a couple of hours' Although it pained him to waste his double EXP time, he had to take back some loot and fix up his armor.

Abel made his way to the next room and found the same monsters lounging about, except this time there was no Rat Sergeant so he made even quicker work of the room than before.

He continued to push through one room after another, coming across a Rat Sergeant in the mix every now and then. He was emptying out the burrows much faster with his new active skill, regardless of the addition of a Sergeant between them.

Although he could only utilize Serpents Dance 12 times before running out of mana, he was also taking less hits and therefore less breaks in between.

By the time he was done clearing out all 8 burrows, 40 minutes had passed and he was halfway through level 3. His lesser breaks and faster killing speed aided in this immensely.

He got to work skinning the monsters and got another 40 Rat Meat and a bunch more teeth and tails. He tried to stuff as much Rat meat into his new bag and old sack.

He was able to pack up all the Rat Meat and a few teeth before he the bags couldn't handle anymore.

'I'll pile up the rest of the loot on the first floor along with my bow and arrow then head back to the city. Ugh… I really need a spacial bag'

As he inwardly cried about leaving so many monster parts behind for the next run, he made his way back outside to grab his belongings. Once he packed everything up on the first floor, he swiftly made his way back to the city.

When he came across wild monsters in the woods, he would ignore them and carry on running, eventually leaving them far behind. He also came across some player on his journey but his swift speed prevented them from striking up a conversation with him.

Just a short 20 minutes later, he found himself standing before Universal Bazaar.

Tring Tring

"It's good to see you again sir! How may I be of help today?" It was the same attendant from the day before. Abel wasn't sure if there was someone else working in this shop but he was thankful it was a familiar face.

"I have a lot more Rat Meat for you today"

He walked up to the table and started taking out the 98 Rat Meat he had on him, then took out another 24 Rat teeth.

The attendant seemed to be speechless at the amount of loot before him, but a grin slowly took over the shock on his face.

"98 Stone-Toothed Rat Meat – 11 silver and 76 copper coins. 24 Stone-toothed Rat Teeth – 48 copper coins. Oh, you also have some Sergeant Stone-toothed Rat Meat, that'll sell for 15 copper coins per piece. The total comes to 12 silver and 84 copper coins, do you wish to make the exchange?"

"Yes"

Abel made the transaction and felt good about having some money again, though he knew it was going to get spent real soon. The attendant wanted to try and sell some goods but Abel had swiftly left without giving him a chance to speak.

He made his way to the consumables shop he had visited earlier in the morning and bought another 20 rolls of bandages as well as 5 mana incense sticks.

A mana-incense stick was a low-grade consumable that cost him 60 copper coins per stick. But it was necessary as it would add +10 Mana every 5 seconds for 30 seconds and each stick could be used 3 times. A player just had to break the first segment of the bamboo-like incense stick and it would release a bluish vapor that would aid in mana recovery.

After purchasing another 20 loaves of black bread, he quickly made his way to the Artisans' square and left his sword and leather chest armor to get fixed. The repair for both pieces of equipment had cost him another 65 copper coins.

'I don't have enough for a profession… should I head back and sell off the rest of the Rat Teeth?'

Abel mulled over his decision, he currently had 9 silver coins and 79 copper coins. He was tempted to make another run but ultimately decided to spend 2 silver and 10 copper coins on some leather arm guards that would add +2 STR and +5 Defense.

'I'll keep the rest in case I need more supplies. There's still the next floor and maybe even more after that.'

 He decided to finally log off to get some rest. The repair would take 30-45 minutes, otherwise he would have opted to go back to the dungeon and log off over there to save himself some time.

'Open Menu Panel' Having made his preparations, Abel swiftly logged out to get some much needed rest.