CHAPTER 50: SUBSTANTIAL REWARDS!

Time passed, and before long Arthur and the duo had explored the whole mountainous terrain.

Just after Nephis finished dealing with that last orc they could find, a line of words appeared in front of Arthur’s eyes.

[Congratulations on clearing a D-rank dungeon! Please retrieve the rewards in the system space!]

[Congratulations! You have received 50 free attribute points for clearing a unique dungeon!]

[Congratulations! Your Third Calamity has leveled up to Level 12!]

Arthur read through the information, a surge of excitement coursing through him.

His attention was instantly drawn to the system space where he noticed a row of potions including more than ten middle grade mana recovery and health potions.

Arthur glanced through the treasures, and his expression was filled with joy.

Praising the system internally, Arthur then noticed the 50 free attributes.

’Damn!’ Arthur couldn’t help drawing a sharp breath and immediately called up his stats.

[Name: Arthur Pendragon]

[Class: Calamity Summoner]

[Level: 1]

[Strength: 43]

[Defense: 37]

[Dexterity: 38]

[Health: 100]

[Mana: 160]

[Free Attribute: 55]

[Elemental Affinity: E-rank Fire - 17/20]

Arthur took some time to ponder how to assign the free attributes before distributing them to the corresponding sections.

Immediately, his new stats were updated.

[Name: Arthur Pendragon]

[Class: Calamity Summoner]

[Level: 1]

[Strength: 53]

[Defense: 47]

[Dexterity: 48]

[Health: 100]

[Mana: 185]

[Free Attribute: 55]

[Elemental Affinity: E-rank Fire - 17/20]

The moment Arthur finished assigning all the attributes, a jolt akin to electricity surged through his limbs, freezing him in his tracks.

A dazed expression appeared on Arthur’s face, and it was as though he was on cloud nine.

He could feel his strength increasing greatly, and so did his mana pool.

Arthur took a long, deep breath before slowly exhaling and calming his excited, trembling nerves.

Turning around, he swung his fist forward.

His movement was sharp and almost a blur as his fist shot forward, causing the air to ripple slightly.

’So much increase?!’ Arthur widened his eyes in disbelief and stared at his arm like it wasn’t his own.

The two Calamities accompanying him also sensed the mysterious change within Arthur but didn’t voice their questions.

They knew that for Arthur to be able to summon them, there must be some kind of uniqueness or peculiarity about him.

After testing out a few things, Arthur realized his speed had increased as well as his defense. In essence, the toughness of his skin and his stamina.

Now he felt that he could even go on for hours fighting.

The previous exhaustion he felt from not sleeping for a long time had vanished, causing his blurry eyes to become clear.

Arthur grinned ear to ear and finally felt like he was catching up to his Calamities.

In fact, he had a feeling that in a one on one battle against Nephis, if she didn’t use any of her unique Assassin abilities, he could be evenly matched with her.

’At least I’m certain I can defeat one of my summons.’ Arthur consoled himself internally, the image of the little white fox appearing in his mind briefly.

"Let’s head out of the dungeon. We have nothing doing here," Arthur said aloud.

Titan nodded, and Nephis quickly blended into the shadows.

Staring intently at Arthur, Titan knelt down for Arthur to climb onto his back so he could teleport them both and increase the speed of their travel.

However, even from where he stood, Arthur could feel the stinging heat burning off Titan’s armor.

Internally, he was curious how Titan hadn’t been roasted yet just by staying in the armor.

One had to note that Titan had been in the armor since Arthur encountered him, and throughout their stay here where it was filled with sun, Titan had never complained even once.

Shaking his head, Arthur waved dismissively. "I’m okay climbing."

Titan looked like he wanted to protest, but Arthur just waved his hand, unsummoning him with a wry smile.

He knew Titan was trying to be helpful...

But he couldn’t just burn his skin because of that.

Arthur chuckled, then turned around and began walking back toward the mountain they had used to come here.

The whole place was eerily quiet as the sun streamed from the endless clouds onto Arthur’s bald head, reflecting into the distance.

Arthur glanced around and noticed the surroundings as he walked, his mind filled with wonder and amazement.

’To think this is another unique world inside the normal world I’m from.’

Questions about where the dungeons came from surged through Arthur’s mind, but he forced them down.

Thankfully, he soon reached the location of the mountain.

With a stretch of his hand, Arthur started climbing up the mountain.

After climbing a few paces, Arthur was shocked to realize that climbing the mountain now felt like an extension of his limbs as though his body could instinctively recognize each movement.

’This...’ Arthur was speechless and immediately attributed this to the Dexterity stats.

With that, Arthur climbed up the mountain in half the time he used to climb down.

Reaching the peak, Arthur finally let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the portal that was still rotating.

’Finally! It’s over!’ Arthur exhaled in relief and, without hesitation, increased his speed once more, heading out of the dungeon.

The moment he appeared back in the real world, he noticed the familiar skies.

However, they were dark, making Arthur understand just how much time he had spent in the dungeon.

It was the first time he was spending almost a complete day inside a dungeon.

However, a day still wasn’t much compared to some even more terrifying dungeons.

There were those who could spend months or even years inside a dungeon, ultimately returning some time later, and there were even dungeons said to alter one’s perception of time.

Arthur glanced around and felt the silence as he looked over his surroundings.

"Nephis," Arthur called out, feeling a strange sense of unsettlement.

Immediately, Nephis appeared from the shadows and stood silently beside Arthur.

"Let’s go. The others should be done with their dungeons as well, hopefully," he said to her as he led the way down to the center of the city.

If his guess wasn’t wrong, that was where they would be gathered.

With Nephis by his side, Arthur continued down the road to the castle.

From afar he could hear casual conversations drifting by, and he recognized the familiar voice of Aella.

He increased his pace and finally reached them after a few minutes.

Aella and Jason were seated beside a campfire as they casually chatted.

Jason was throwing most of the questions, with Aella either nodding her head or giving faint, vague replies.

Cough. Cough.

With a light cough, Arthur interrupted the two as he appeared in their line of sight.

"Look who finally decided to show up." Jason didn’t miss the opportunity to sneer in disdain. "Thought you had been killed off in the dungeon."

Arthur rolled his eyes and ignored him, turning to Aella instead.

"You’re done cleaning up the whole Jaell State?"

Aella nodded, casting a brief glance at Nephis who was following behind Arthur.

She was faintly intimidated by her beauty and couldn’t help pulling a strand of her hair behind her ear to make her appearance look more splendid, but it was still nothing remotely close to Nephis despite her being veiled.

Feeling defeated, Aella changed the topic and said:

"I’ve recorded the information of the dungeons we cleared. With only three cleared, we still have a lot more work to do," Aella said with a smile, trying to sound composed.

Arthur nodded, rubbing his chin slightly.

"Where’s the location of the next set of dungeons?"

"In an abandoned village site. A few dungeons claimed the lives of all the villagers there, and it’s up to us to erase the danger and give the surrounding villages a safe passage."

Arthur nodded once more and sat down, patting the space beside him for Nephis to sit.

Nephis’s lips curled into a smile, but seeing Aella’s look of competition, she grinned and leaned in closer to Arthur before resting her head on his shoulder.

Arthur was speechless at the act but didn’t take it to heart.

Instead, recalling the system’s words about how this lady hadn’t even experienced love, he rubbed her head gently.

"Tsk. Get a fucking room or something," Jason clicked his tongue in annoyance, his gaze drifting between Nephis and Aella as though comparing them.

Aella’s face turned slightly red as she coughed shyly, having never experienced such direct confrontation from a lady.

She cleared her throat as her voice suddenly grew solemn.

"Something I’m curious about is the fact that there were no dungeons in all these places just a few minutes ago. And they suddenly seemed to appear out of thin air."

Aella’s voice was filled with confusion.

Jason narrowed his eyes instantly. "Are you saying someone put the dungeons there at these specific places? Could they be gathering something?"

Arthur’s interest was immediately piqued as his eyes sharpened with caution.

"Gathering something?" He turned to Jason.

"What could whoever is responsible possibly be gathering?"