Gerhard arrived at the end of the tunnel, which led to a large cave. And in that large cave, a huge red snake lay rolled on the ground.
"It's huge. Looks like 10 meters or something."
> 9.34 METERS TO BE EXACT. FROM START TO FINISH.
[Observe]
[Red-Scaled Snake - Lv. 12]
| EXP: 53.92%
| Type: Nature
| HP: 1293/1293
| STR: 38
| VIT: 66
| DEX: 46
| INT: 7
| WIS: 9
| LUK: 12
Special:
| Poison (Active), Hardened scales (Active)
-
"It has pretty high STR, VIT and DEX stats. And to think that it's level 12... Truly, stats are a conundrum in this galaxy I find myself in. If I go from the Genestealers I've encountered so far... it looks to be surpassing the Hybrid Metamorph in all things except INT and WIS, but only narrowly. And the Metamorph was level 32."
> PERHAPS THE LEVELS AND STATS OF MONSTERS INSIDE THE INSTANT DUNGEONS CAN'T BE COMPARED TO THOSE OF THE REAL WORLD.
"Might have something to do with the different energy sources. In all my dungeons, things run on Mana and outside, the Empyrean affects all things, except Nulls."
> CALCULATING...
> YES, MY CALCULATIONS SHOW THAT YOU MIGHT BE RIGHT. THE IMMATERIUM, OR WARP AS IT'S CALLED, DOES INFLUENCE EVERYTHING. THE TWO ENERGY SOURCES ARE NOT THE SAME.
> FROM THE LEVELS AND STATS, IT SEEMS THAT MANA IS THE MOST POTENT AND SAFEST ONE.
"Well, thank fuck for that. It's also why I haven't used the Warp skills yet. I'm sure I've been noticed already as soon as I got the skill. And considering where we are..."
> I SUGGEST YOU ALLOW THE MONSTER TO HIT YOU.
"..."
> FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES.
"Fair enough."
Gerhard moved forward with the heavy suit, drawing the snake's attention. It lifted its head above him and opened its large mouth, showing four large fangs, dripping with poison.
"This might not be a very good idea..."
> YOU'LL BE FINE.
The snake shot forward, showing its high physical stats, and bit into Gerhard at once.
*BOOM*
[You have been poisoned]
HP: -190
HP: -190
"Great idea, Hans."
> I WOULD SUGGEST KILLING IT BEFORE...
"NOO--"
The snake, realising that its mouth was big enough to simply swallow Gerhard... did just that. Its fangs had managed to penetrate one small part of the armour after failing to do so the first time. Gerhard flailed around with his arms as he was thrown into the air and then swallowed.
...
[Toxin and Disease Resistance has levelled up]
The snake could feel a low hum as vibrations travelled along its spine. That was until a second later, four power claws, slashed out of its stomach and cleaved through half of its body, causing its bones, blood and gore to spill out.
*HISSS*
That strange hissing sound was heard as it flailed around in pain and wiggled, only making the wound worse and forcing Gerhard to cut the wound open further to get out. But eventually he did.
> WE HAVE LEFT THE SNAKE'S STOMACH SUCCESSFULLY. LIGHTNING CLAW HAS PROVEN POWERFUL ONCE AGAIN. WELL DONE, MASTER.
"Haaa haaa... if you mess with the bull, you get the lightning claw and assault cannon. Worms should know their place."
> VERY GOOD, MASTER. SOUNDING VERY XENOPHOBIC. YOU FIT RIGHT IN. KEEP IT UP.
"Shut up, Hans! This was a stupid idea."
> I DISAGREE, MASTER. YOUR TOXING AND DISEASE RESISTANCE HAS LEVELLED UP THREE TIMES, AND WE KNOW HOW STRONG THE ARMOUR IS AND WHERE WE WILL HAVE TO MAKE IMPROVEMENTS.
"Urgh..."
[Red-Scaled Snake has been defeated]
[+23,410 EXP]
"Well, how much did you gain?"
> IT APPEARS THE PREVIOUS DIVISION OF EXP WAS 3 FOR ME AND 1 FOR YOU. AND THIS TIME IT WAS THE SAME. I GAINED A TOTAL OF 17.558 THOUSAND EXP.
> I LEVELLED UP TO LEVEL 8.
"Nice, so two additional levels. What are your stats like? Still the same gains?"
> INDEED. 200 TOTAL MP + INT 135 AND WIS 71, GIVING ME A TOTAL OF 2050 MANA. AND AN MP-REGENERATION OF 22/MIN.
"Good. Let's continue."
Gerhard moved forward. The suit had been damaged, but was still holding up fine. Gerhard had to defeat the first floor's boss to leave the instant dungeon. Or lose all his HP, but he wasn't very keen on that.
They reached an area with three entrances. Three corridors to choose from.
[Detect Presence]
"The one on the left has 31 presences, the one in the middle has 45, and the right-most one has 121."
> I SUGGEST WE GO TO THE RIGHT-MOST PATH TO TEST OUT THE ASSAULT CANNON.
"Yeah, I thought so too. Since we have a lot of enemies, we can finally use the Assault Cannon a bit."
So Gerhard walked through the corridor. Suddenly, however, he stopped walking. He had an idea.
"Hans, turn off the energy support systems."
> YOU WANT TO CARRY THE ENTIRE SUIT ON YOUR OWN?
"Yes. It's called multitasking. I might as well train my physical stats while I'm here."
> TURNING OFF ENERGY FLOW.
The suit powered down, with only Hans' core glowing blue. Gerhard felt the weight of almost 500 kilograms immediately. It was a lot, and he had to adjust his centre of gravity multiple times to avoid falling.
"Urgh, that shit's heavy," Gerhard groaned.
He forced himself to take a single step forward and again, avoid falling. It looked like Goku in the gravity chamber, only a bit more 'realistic'. His entire body wobbled and moved left to right, like a large building in the wind. But he managed to do it without incident.
He took another step and then waited 30 seconds to stabilise. Gerhard had his breathing technique active all the time, so he was moving with a buff, strictly speaking. But he couldn't do it otherwise. From what he knew, Space Marines could lift between 2 and 5 tons. So if he wanted to be relevant in this galaxy, he had to start lifting, bro.
Gerhard took another step. But unlike before, the floor sank slightly, triggering a booby trap.
"SHIT!" Gerhard cursed as he lost his balance and fell to the ground.
THUNK
At the same time, hundreds of arrows shot out of the walls, some flying over his head and some hitting his armour. The damage was nil, but he was still lying face-first on the floor.
"Why didn't my danger sense activate?"
> I PRESUME THERE WAS NO DANGER FOR YOU. YOU FALLING LIKE AN INFANT, WAS YOUR OWN FAULT.
"Hans, check for such traps from now on. I have no interest in falling through a trap door or something like that. I still haven't installed boosters to fly."
> UNDERSTOOD, MASTER.
Gerhard pushed himself to his feet again, and surprisingly and excitedly, he was rewarded for his hard work.
[STR has gone up by 1]
[VIT has gone up by 1]
[DEX has gone up by 1]
"Hehe, it works. Gamer's Body for the win."
> AGREED. THIS METHOD SHOULD HARM YOU MORE THAN DO YOU GOOD. BUT HAVING A GAMER'S BODY NEGATES ALL THE NEGATIVES AND LEAVES YOU WITH THE POSITIVES.
[For making good decisions, WIS has risen by 3]
"Wow. I'm on a run today."
Gerhard moved on; every once in a while, one or more of his physical stats would rise by one. It was a delicious cheat way to train his physical stats, but he took it.
Finally, after hours of fighting through basic movements, Gerhard arrived at a large hall. And in that hall...
"Is that..."
> IT APPEARS TO BE A SNAKE DEN. FILLED WITH RED-SCALED SNAKES.
*HIISSSSSSSS*
All the snakes suddenly became alert to Gerhard's presence.
[Danger Sense]
Gerhard didn't think about it and immediately cast [Psionic Mana Shield]. Several dozen snakes hit the shield at the same time, making Gerhard's Mana drop considerably, but one of the snakes suddenly hissed in pain, as a very small percentage of the damage was reflected.
Gerhard moved his left arm forward and finally activated the Assault Cannon. It roared to life and for only one second... ONE SECOND, it fired 50 rounds into the horde of snakes, killing several dozen of them in one go.
[Red-Scaled Snake defeated]
[+23,410 EXP]
[Red-Scaled Snake defeated]
[+23,410 EXP]
[Red-Scaled Snake defeated]
[+23,410 EXP]
[Red-Scaled Snake defeated]
[+23,410 EXP]
.
.
.
.
[Level up]
Gerhard didn't stop. He turned around and fired in a wide arc, killing dozens each second and making sure to stop firing in order not to waste any ammo. It wasn't limitless after all, and he didn't know what he would meet later on.
[Red-Scaled Snake defeated]
[+23,410 EXP]
[Red-Scaled Snake defeated]
[+23,410 EXP]
.
.
.
[Level up]
After two minutes, there was but one snake left. This one was larger, but aside from that, she didn't look any different.
[Observe]
[Red-Scaled Snake - Lv. 18]
| Name: Long Life Snake
| EXP: 56.92%
| Type: Nature
| HP: 1293/1293
| STR: 68
| VIT: 66
| DEX: 56
| INT: 17
| WIS: 19
| LUK: 22
Special:
| Poison (Active), Hardened scales (Active), Strong Attack (Active)
-
"It's a named monster. So you do get stronger if you're a named character, huh. Interesting intel."
The larger, stronger snake shot forward, opening its mouth to attempt what the first snake had done: swallow Gerhard. But this time, all it was met with was a powerful shield that stopped its attack.
And a second later, several powerful bursts of fire from the Assault Cannon through the head put an end to the monster.
[+37,923 EXP]
Gerhard looked around and saw that the entire floor was littered with loot. There were Spirit Stones, Health Potions, metals and other resources, scales, hide, and even a sword to be found. There was a lot of material Gerhard could use in the future.
[Toothpick - Rank: Special]
| From a monster that lives on the 1st floor of the Mysterious Labyrinth made from the teeth of the [Red Scale Snake].
| The shape imitates a European sword and is stronger than normal steel.
| Because the poison is still active, if the attack succeeds, the opponent will be poisoned.
| Type of poison: paralytic
-
"Are you joking. My first-ever special-grade item comes from a dungeon. Well, I suppose my power sword actually does way more damage."
> BUT NOT IN ITS BASE STATE. YOU COULD TURN THIS BLADE INTO A POWER WEAPON BY INTEGRATING THE DISTORTION FIELD GENERATOR.
"Not a bad idea. Together with the poison effect, although I am interested in the Bonesword I acquired from the Primus. That could be even better."
It took Gerhard 10 minutes to stop collecting all the stuff on the ground.
"This takes too long. I have a better idea."
Gerhard opened his status window and looked at that blasted INT stat, which had refused to go up by one for such a long time. He pressed the (+) button once.
INT: 99 -> 100
[Since your INT has reached 100, you will gain an ability related to your brain functions.]
[New skill 'Psychokinesis' has been created]
Psychokinesis (Active) Lv. 1
| EXP: 0.00%
| A mana-based telekinetic ability that allows the user to manipulate objects through mental force. This ability is stable compared to Warp-based powers but still crude and inefficient at this stage.
Effects:
| Move small objects within a limited range
| Basic push and pull force
| Limited control over a single object
| Requires full concentration to maintain control
Bonus:
| + 5% control precision
| - 5% Mana usage
| Slight reduction in shaking/instability
| Basic directional control (no fine rotation)
-
[Since your INT has passed 100, you gained the passive skill 'Medium Mana Capacity']
[Since your INT has passed 100, you gained the passive skill 'Mana Regeneration']
[A new skill has been created through a special action.]
[Through the faint connection to the Warp, and the newly created skill powered by Mana, the skill 'Telekinesis' has been created.]
Telekinesis (Warp Discipline) (Active) Lv.1
| EXP: 0.00%
| A psychic discipline that uses Warp energy as a physical force, allowing the user to manipulate matter, space, and kinetic energy directly.
Effects:
| Move and manipulate objects without physical contact
| Convert psychic energy into force (push, pull, crush)
| Limited control over multiple objects simultaneously
| Can affect both solid matter and energy constructs
| +20% force output for all telekinetic actions
| +10% control over multiple targets
-
[The possibility of fusing two skills has been created.]
[Skills 'Psychokinesis' and 'Telekinesis (Warp Discipline)' can be fused.]
[Proceed?]