Only thanks to an upbringing of Indiana Jones movies did Ronan immediately understand he'd triggered a trap when the stone he stepped on sank into the ground slightly. Having expected a goblin ambush, he'd discarded the possibility that the dungeon itself might be trapped.

It was foolish.

The popping sound that came from inside the walls could mean anything. Ronan threw himself backwards, in case arrows started shooting from the walls.

When nothing of the sort happened—there wasn't even a giant swinging axe that fell to cleave him in two—he let out a sigh of relief. Then he jumped as a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Everything good? Why did you suddenly freeze and leap backwards?" Howard asked.

"I stepped on a pressure plate. Didn't want to get impaled by some kind of trap," Ronan replied in explanation. "I wonder if the dungeon's faulty."

"I really wish you hadn't said that," Alyssa moaned.

As if he'd tempted fate, the next second, various sections on the walls split and opened like automatic doors. Ronan barely had the time to wonder why a medieval-style dungeon had automatic doors before pure white feet stepped out of each gap.

Considering the doorways seemed to stretch about a hundred metres down the corridor ahead, and from the sounds of things, both corridors on either side, that was a lot of feet. Ronan realised why they were so thin and white over the next few seconds as the monsters which had been hidden inside the walls stepped out.

"Skeletons, no fucking way," Howard exclaimed, taking a step back.

"Can we even kill them? Aren't they like… already dead?" Jenna grumbled.

"Only one way to find out," Ronan replied, as every single skeleton turned towards them in sync.

They began to march lockstep at the group of four. Each skeleton wielded a weapon. Rusty swords, spears, shields, clubs, axes, and more. Not all the weapons were rusty, but enough were that Ronan began to wonder if the system had created this place, or simply pulled it from somewhere else in the universe.

"Well, you all know what to do. Frankly, I'm just glad it's not more goblins," Ronan said, hefting his mace. It was a perfect weapon against skeletons, provided they weren't able to reassemble themselves after being smashed to pieces.

He hadn't lied. Not fighting goblins was a blessing. Ronan practically skipped forward to meet the first skeleton, mace swinging.

The calcium crusader wielded a sword, but it barely had a chance to lift it in defence before its ribcage exploded in a shower of white dust. The legs collapsed and the skull fell to the ground, where Ronan crushed it underfoot.

He was already swinging his mace at the second skeleton before the dust cleared. The undead were fast despite the lack of muscles, but the corridor was only a couple of metres wide, and they couldn't overwhelm him if they tried.

Howard and Alyssa were on either side of Ronan, darting in and hacking down skeletons when they saw an opportunity. Every so often a mana bolt, or arc of black lightning would scream overhead. Each skeleton struck burst into a cloud of bone dust, with any fragments that survived the blast clattering against the stone.

After the first few skeletons, Ronan fell into a rhythm. He wasn't thinking so much as simply ensuring the mace kept moving, round and round.

At one point he felt almost like a spinning top, if a spinning top was a lethally heavy human weapon. The strategy was working, as every few seconds a gentle impact and a shower of white dust rewarded his effort.

The constant stream of kill notifications helped keep his mood up, and his momentum bar had reached 100 a long while ago and refused to drop. Half a minute later, he realised he hadn't hit anything for a good ten seconds, and his momentum was falling.

Unfortunately he was spinning too fast to stop without causing havoc. He didn't want to accidentally send the mace flying at one of his new teammates, so Ronan forced himself to smash it against the wall.

With a thud, the heavy iron ball smashed into the unknown material and came to an immediate halt. The impact was transferred into his arms, which shook like they'd been hit by a localized earthquake.

The way his elbow and shoulder joints trembled, Ronan almost felt as though they were going to pop out. Thankfully, the backlash passed after about six seconds of discomfort.

With a grunt of exertion, he lifted the mace from the ground and then rested it over one shoulder. As he did so, he spotted a few flakes of the brick had been knocked loose by the blow, and knelt down to collect them.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

After the previous time, he might have been foolish to try again, but the energy absorption efficiency and all-damage resistance were worth the struggle. However, he would need to wait for a moment where his teammates weren't close by.

If he suddenly started writhing and twitching in full view of them, they'd either think he'd been possessed, gone insane, or perhaps worse. They might decide to put him down, and while that wasn't a death sentence, it would interrupt the gains from mineral skeleton.

Looking back, he saw that his three allies were quite a bit further down the corridor. In the chaos of battle, he'd clearly pushed ahead and left them to deal with the chaos that ensued. He was glad they'd managed to keep up.

As he approached, he saw they were all healed. Clearly they'd leveled up enough times to earn the restoration during the battle. "Hey, sorry about that, I got a bit lost in the frenzy. All's well that ends well, though."

Jenna snorted. "You're far too casual for a human wrecking ball. Reminds me of that one cartoon movie that came out a few years back. My little brother loved that, what was the name again?"

"Wreck-it Alf?" Alyssa added, half-asking, half-telling.

"That's the one. A lot meaner though. You don't have his disarming charisma, Ronan," Jenna continued, though it was light-hearted banter at best.

"Well, it seems as though there's no more skeletons. Let's take some time to invest our stat points, check out the loot, and then decide which way to move forwards. I assume we could go down any of the three corridors, and I have no idea what to expect anymore," Ronan replied, taking a seat against one of the nearby walls and pulling up the kill notifications.

"That works for me. We'll reconvene in a few minutes," Howard said, following Ronan's lead. The two girls shrugged and did the same, and soon all four were staring into space as they read their own system messages.

You have killed [Skeleton Soldier Lv.28-35] x46 and [Elite Skeleton Soldier Lv.37]!

+16 Bronze Credits

+239 Copper Credits

+79 [Mace] Mastery

+31 [Mace I] Mastery

+53 [Stamina II] Mastery

+63 [Momentum I] Mastery

+16 [Pain I] Mastery

+21 [Health I] Mastery

+19 [Mana II] Mastery

+6 [Meditation] Mastery

+Rusty Sword Lv.28

+Worn Shield Lv.31

+Chipped Dagger Lv.33

+Rusty Spear Lv.29

+Weathered Shortsword Lv.35

+Worn Bracers Lv.30

+Rusty Longsword Lv.32

+Cracked Shield Lv.28

+Iron Pauldrons Lv.34

+Bent Scythe Lv.33

+Brittle Sword Lv.29

+Bone Dust (Common) x46

+Skeleton Knuckle (Uncommon)

+Elite Shard Lv.37 (Soul)

You have leveled up to Lv.30!

…

You have leveled up to Lv.38!

You have been restored x4!

+9 Vitality

+45 Endurance

+18 Resistance

+36 Strength

+36 Tenacity

+18 Free Stat Points

You have reached the mastery cap for [Mace]!

Mace has evolved to Mace I!

Deal infinitesimally more damage when striking with a mace. Gain mastery over maces infinitesimally faster. Weight penalties when wielding maces are infinitesimally reduced.

You have reached the mastery cap for [Stamina I]!

Stamina II has evolved to Stamina III!

All stamina costs are reduced by a moderate amount. Whenever you expend stamina to activate a skill or item, regain 6.5% of the expended stamina. Efficacy of endurance +5%

You have reached the mastery cap for [Momentum]!

Momentum I has evolved to Momentum II!

Acceleration is minutely increased. Impact damage is minutely decreased.

Momentum definition is now:

Gain a new resource, momentum, which can only ever be an integer from 0 to 100. Deal substantially more, and take substantially less, physical damage the greater your momentum. If your momentum remains at 0 for more than 15 seconds during combat, the effect is reversed, increasing exponentially every 8 seconds.

While it wasn't the most levels Ronan had earned in a single battle, it was certainly the most stat points. Having a rare class from level 10 made a world of difference. His stamina had benefited the most, skyrocketing as his endurance did.

Not to mention that the bonecrusher mace, which he'd struggled to lift when he first received it, now felt like a toy in his grip. It barely took a thought to send it flying through the air towards his target.

Tenacity was harder to judge, but it was somewhat quantifiable. Ronan had some trepidation about the overpowered boss monster they were certain to face when they'd arrived in that stone room. Now, when he thought ahead to that particular challenge, the only feelings that welled up within were excitement, and a certainty in his victory.

The cherry on the cake was that he'd received his first soul-aspected elite shard from the single elite skeleton soldier he'd defeated. Ronan barely remembered if he'd noticed a difference, but it was all a blur. It seemed the elite skeleton wasn't much tougher than its regular counterparts, or he'd simply built up too much momentum for it to pose a threat.

Three masteries tiering up was a welcome boon too. Ronan felt that he needed to fight large hordes of enemies more often. Relentless training, that common skill he rarely thought about, was clearly putting in work to keep his rewards high. He would need to ask his teammates what they earned to put things into perspective and figure out how much he benefited from it.

With so many free points, he decided to increase his luck a little. He used 6 of the 18, taking his luck up to a nice round 10. After that, he upped his regeneration using all of the remaining free points.

If the fights in stage 4 were all going to be as prolonged as that last one had been, he would need to ensure his health, stamina, and mana didn't drop too drastically. That done, he moved onto the most important part of his loot.

Ronan had finally received a soul-aspected shard. Combined with his new skill, conversion cultivation, he would be able to push for the first realm of soul cultivation the moment he had a chance.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem as though that would be any time soon. His teammates were stirring, and they definitely wouldn't slow their pace for him to sit around and meditate for a few hours. Or would they?

"Hey guys, I have a question for you all," he said, trying not to be too hopeful in case his optimistic dream was crushed in the cradle.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.